News, 1/31/2018

With first-round victory, Niinistö remains president of Finland

Sauli Niinistö smiles for the cameras at an election-night reception in Helsinki after results showed that he had won a second six-year term as president.

While the incumbent entered with a strong position and was always the favourite, the election, held on January 28, 2018, underscores the significance of the democratic process.

The campaign season lasts, mercifully, only a few months, but it allows for debate and exchange of ideas on the national stage, and all parties that decided to field a candidate received media coverage and a turn at the microphone. Voter participation was 69.9 percent, compared to the previous presidential election, in 2012, which saw a participation rate of 72.8 percent.